Interview: Randall Bills from Catalyst Game Labs pt 2

Welcome back to our conversation with Randall “Zeus’ Chin Chaff” Bills from Catalyst Game Labs.  Today we’re picking up where we left off last time to look more at their new game Cosmic Patrol, I grill him about Battletech (because I love it), and we find out what is most important to a guy with epic beard prowess in times of dungeon crawling…Enjoy!

• Would you consider Catalyst Labs to be more of a miniature game company or role-playing company?

I think Catalyst simply is a company that makes great games. Right out of the gate we started publishing Shadowrun (big RPG) and BattleTech (big miniatures). And we’ve continued in the RPG side, helping to publish/launch some new universes in the last two years, as well as just releasing Cosmic Patrol. Then we’ve got a brand new, big miniatures game in Leviathans coming, not to mention our casual games.

Our goal is simply making games we love and we hope there are players out there that’ll find and enjoy our games, regardless of whether their miniatures games, RPGs, boardgames, card games, you name it.

• How has the revival of Battletech been received by gamers?

It’s been phenomenal. I remember being at Gen Con in 2000 at the FASA booth and its usual, big presence and then the very next year at the FanPro booth that was selling BattleTech books—single booth, buried way, way back in the hall. It’s been a long, long haul to revitalize the line and bring back old players while opening the imagination of a new generation of players to this simple fact: blowing crap up on alien worlds in giant robots is awesome!

This year especially at Gen Con we had a crowd of gaming BattleTech players that easily was as big as any of the years I worked at FASA…humbling and wonderful to be helming a property beloved by so many gamers.

• As an avid fan of Battletech I have to ask, what’s your favorite Mech?

It’s fun how much that question comes up over the years. I’m not an “I play only in this era” type of player. I play whatever strikes my fancy on a day I need some BattleTech, and I enjoy the different eras for the themes, aesthetics and challenges they bring.

That being said, I have a very special place in my heart for the Banshee BNC-3S. Not only did I have many a wonderful games in the far distant past piloting that monster, but I wrote up a little “from the player” article about that ’Mech that was published in an old issue of Battletechnology (very first published bit…it’s terrible to read, now, but still my very first publication…).

• Now you guys have previously managed the updating of older IP’s like BattleTech and Shadowrun, what drove the decision to go into new game development with Leviathans and Cosmic Patrol?

As I mentioned above, we’ve a passion for any type of game and we’re hoping to continue to build Catalyst into a company that simply makes cool games, regardless of the type.

At the same time, growing up on BattleTech and Shadowrun, the large, dynamic and visually stunning universes of those two taught us that we still love to delve into those type of creations.

Both Leviathans and Cosmic Patrol were concepts brought to us that we fell in love with for various reasons and have embraced completely; an absolute love affair with both of them. Big, giant, vibrant, epic: world building at this scale gets the geek on for the fan in us, as well as exceptionally professionally gratifying.

• So let’s talk a little about Cosmic Patrol, you guys’ newest offering.  What’s the game about?

It’s a roleplaying game set in a retro future based on the Golden Age of science fiction. Players take on the role of Patrolmen in the Cosmic Patrol, a union of humanity from Venus, Earth and Mars, taking on all the dangerous and adventure the cosmos has to offer.

• What was the inspiration for a retro sci-fi game like this?

This is all laid at the feet of Matt Heerdt, our intrepid graphics designer (I’m just happy to have been allowed along for the ride). He’s a huge fan of that style and era and has a solid collection of those old magazines. So it was natural for him to use that skin as a vehicle for the game he wanted to present.

He gave us a 4 or 5 page proposal last Gen Con and the cover page was almost identical to the cover used on the Core Rulebook. The logo, coloring, font…all wonderfully evocative and he had his hooks into us before we’d read a word.

Once we started to read his thoughts on the setting, the game mechanics and also Leanne Buckley’s wonderful B&W art…done deal.

• Tell us about the game mechanisms and what makes Cosmic Patrol unique.

Cosmic Patrol absolutely takes a vibe from the last few years of great Indy games: got a shelf full of such RPGs, like Polaris, Spirit of the Century, Fiasco and so on. Like many of those it’s a GM-less experience, with a very rules light system.

I believe the most unique aspect of the game is how heavily it embraces improv-style play. Each Patrolman Dossier (character sheet) is filled with more than a dozen “Cues”. These are basically tagline your character would say. Not only does this allow players to instantly get into their character’s heads, but if they’re in a tough spot, trying to spin the story off of what the previous players just said, they can quickly scan the Cues on their sheet to find one that works, say it out loud and move the story forward.

Players interested in learning more about the game can check out the website at www.cosmicpatrol.com, where I’m usually blogging once a week about its development and I provide an in-depth look under the hood.

• What’s the best way for people to get their hands on you guys’ games?

We always want to encourage our players to purchase Catalyst games through their local retailer. Their local retailer can order our games through any of the standard distributors pretty much the world over.

However, if there is no retailer near them or the retailer simply won’t order for them, you can always order direct from us at www.battlecorps.com/catalog. In addition to our print products, we’ve a slew of supporting electronic-only products for our game lines as well.

• Okay last one and as a fellow gamer you can appreciate how important this is, if you could only take 3 things/party members into a dungeon with you what/who would they be?

Easy: Vorpal sword, Bag of Holding and a thief.

For our readers, if you want to keep tabs on what’s up over at Catalyst you can find them on twitter @catalystgamelab, online at www.catalystgamelabs.com, or at the newly launched Cosmic Patrol forums where they have a cool contest going on.  We want to send big thanks over to Randall and his team at Catalyst Game Labs for taking the time to hang out with us.  Be on the watch for the upcoming Cosmic Patrol RPG review just around the corner. In the meantime head over to their site to check out the latest releases and info.

The man himself and his Grecian god facial wear...